Friday 12 October 2012 17.45 EDT
First published on Friday 12 October 2012 17.45 EDT

Scenery

Trek America (0844 576 1405, trekamerica.com) offers a range of tours and mini trips using bus and local transport for travellers aged 18-38. Its new 10-day Alaskan Budget Lodging Tour costs £1,329pp and takes in ice-blue glaciers, mountain ranges, dog-sledding and wildlife. It also has a range of mini adventures a few days long.

Water

Western River Expeditions (westernriver.com) runs short rafting tours in Utah, Idaho and Oregon, and the Grand Canyon. Options include a five-day family trip in Idaho down the Salmon river from Lewiston. Included are a "river jester" to entertain the kids, kids' meals and nature walks. Rafters float through canyons and camp on beaches at night. The trip costs $1,485 for adults, $1,285 for children (must be over five) and runs in July and August.

Surfing in Hawaii. Photograph: Chris Dyball/Innerlight/Getty Images

Hawaii has dozens of surf schools, and the warm weather and gentle waves should make learning a tad more tempting than in chilly Devon. Waikiki on Oahu is a great place to start, or try Hanalei on smaller Kauai, which has some small breaks. See gohawaii.com/statewide/guidebook/hawaii-surfing for a list, and for a bargain place to stay, try Wwoofing (wwoofhawaii.org), where you volunteer on a farm in exchange for bed and board. DialAFlight (0844 556 6060, dialaflight.com) has Hawaii trips including flights from £999pp for seven nights in Maui from January-May, or £1,899pp for 13 nights on Hawaii, Maui and Kauai.

Riding and ranching

A ranch holiday combines the fun of horseriding and cowboy/girl skills with exploration of beautiful areas. American Round-Up ranch adventure holidays (americanroundup.com), has a selection, including New Mexico Cowgirl weeks in February and March for £1,026pp, with full-board cabin accommodation.

Farm Stay US (farmstayus.com) has a wide range of guest ranches and farms across the US, from a beef cattle ranch in Kansas to a winery in Kentucky or an alpaca farm in Illinois.

Cycling

Road cyclists planning a US challenge could turn to the Adventure Cycling Association (adventurecycling.org/routes/network.cfm) which has 41,420 miles of routes and lots of ideas and info on its website, from a winter-sun loop through Florida to a tour of Vermont's green mountains or a long-distance route along the Pacific Crest from the Canadian border to Mexico.

Oregon is a great state for mountain bikers, and for sociable riders Mountain Bike Oregon (mtbikeoregon.com) has three-day group trips that offer single-track riding, camping by the Willamette river, free demo bikes, yoga sessions and free beers, in July and August, from $429pp.

Hiking

Incredible Adventures (incadventures.com) has a three-day guided hiking and camping tour in Yosemite national park for $325pp, with picnics amid the giant sequoias.

A new book, Classic Hikes of North America by Peter Potterfield (£25, wwnorton.co.uk), out now, covers some of the US's most amazing long-distance treks, the result of three decades Potterfield spent hiking the wilderness.

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon. Photograph: Alamy

His favourites include the Rim to Rim to Rim in Arizona, a strenuous 44-mile, four- or five-day walk from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, descending on to the South Kaibab Trail to Bright Angel Camp near the Colorado river, along the North Kaibab Trail to Cottonwood Camp and up to the North Rim, crossing the Colorado on the Silver Bridge and hiking back up to the South Rim via the Bright Angel Trail.

The Teton Crest Trail, in Grand Teton national park, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a moderate 39-mile, three-to-five day trek that is, he says, "one of the great backcountry routes on the continent". It starts at Teton Village ski resort, and involves camping at Marion Lake, Death Canyon Shelf, the Alaska Basin and Lake Solitude.

There's no better way to see America's vast, stunning landscape and explore its rich history than driving into the heart of it. Here we've mapped four classic routes: from NYC up into New York State; the Dakotas; through the magnificent scenery of the south-west to LA; and a music tour of the Deep South